Some Spartanburg County lawmakers support removing the Confederate battle flag from the Statehouse grounds, but state Sen. Lee Bright, R-Spartanburg, characterized the movement to remove it and other Confederate monuments as a “Stalinist Purge.”

Lee Bright, a South Carolina state senator with a Confederate flag framed above his office sofa, saw his inbox ping with hundreds of e-mails calling for the flag to come down from the statehouse grounds. He said the rebel symbol was threatened by a “war of political correctness” run amok.

“It’s a lot of hateful e-mails about the South,” Bright said. “If they have such contempt for it, they’re welcome to stay where they are. Just because a mass murderer has a symbol on his automobile -- there are folks that have killed in the name throughout history. We won’t take things out of context just because of an atrocity.

“The Klan used to burn crosses, but nobody thinks of that as a hate symbol. I am very proud of the history of South Carolina. I don’t think any reasonable person would make an argument for slavery, but the men who defended the South were just trying to protect their homes.”

Bright got 16% of the vote in the 2014 Republican U.S. Senate primary, finishing a distant second to incumbent Lindsey Graham.

During the 2010 session, Bright sponsored legislation passed by the state Senate that in addition to affirming South Carolina's Second-, Ninth- and 10th-amendment rights, also targeted federal health care legislation by saying state residents are not subject to any law that interferes with patients' rights to choose their own health care provider or pay for medical services directly.

"If at first you don't secede, try again," Bright said with a laugh after the legislation passed last year.

That guy will vote no. We'll see how many vote yes. South Carolina's Post and Courier is asking all state legislators how they'll vote; so far, a significant majority of legislators, of both parties, say they'll vote yes. Eight legislators, all Republicans, promise to vote no. Keep checking that link for updated totals.

A purge extending over the entire South is exactly what's needed, tearing down monuments, burning flags, and repudiating a past as thoroughly as Germany was de-Nazified and much more thoroughly than Eastern Europe or the ex-Soviet Union were de-Communized.

And a whole new set of national holidays celebrating the defeat of the Confederacy, the emancipation of the slaves, and the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment.

No statue to any Confederate politician or military figure should be left standing in any place of honor or commemoration, anywhere in the South.

And replacing Jackson with Tubman should only be the beginning of an American revision of the currency and all representations or means of honoring the past.

“The Klan used to burn crosses, but nobody thinks of that as a hate symbol. I am very proud of the history of South Carolina. I don’t think any reasonable person would make an argument for slavery, but the men who defended the South were just trying to protect their homes.”

Well, he doesn't know about Bill Maher, does he? And defended the South? Which was the first state to secede, which was the first state to actually levy war against the United States? What was the first state to actually attack a Federal fort? What state gave us John C. Calhoun and his doctrine of nullification, which was a big justification for secession to begin with? William Henry Gist, governor of South Carolina from 14 December 1860 to 13 December 1862, was guilty of treason. Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis were guilty of treason; Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden are not. The Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia is a symbol of and incitement to treason and insurrection, and racial hatred. I should really avoid reading stories like this.